'People defying lockdown probably don't understand severity of the situation'

Johannesburg - Those who continue to go on with life as normal despite the lockdown warning are either very irresponsible or don't understand the severity of the situation.

This was the view of Professor Renata Schoeman, a psychiatrist from the University of Stellenbosch amid reports that some people had continued with their day-to-day activities despite the fact that Covid-19 has already killed two people while over a 1 000 people had been infected.

Speaking on SAfm on Friday afternoon, Schoeman said reports that people were out on the streets while others had even gathered to do a countdown to the lockdown just before midnight was irresponsible. Schoeman also said it was possible people were deliberately not taking the situation seriously as a coping mechanism.

"They are either in denial or highly irresponsible. People need to understand that the lockdown is not a punishment but something that's being done to protect society; it's for survival.

"It's irresponsible (of those that carry on as usual) or it's due to people not understanding the severity of the situation and not understanding the facts. It could just be a rebellious streak," she said.

Twitter was also awash with videos and pictures of people going about their business and not staying home as President Cyril Ramaphosa had ordered.

Ramaphosa made the plea to the country on Monday that due to how quickly the virus was spreading, South Africa would be under total lockdown for 21 days to contain it.

Police and the military stop one of the vehicles during the lockdown that started at midnight.

Picture: Timothy Bernard/African News Agency(ANA)

However, while some people stayed at home, long queues at Rea Vaya bus stations as well as outside grocery stores showed that some citizens had not heeded the message.

%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/21daysLockdownSA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#21daysLockdownSA pic.twitter.com/xYTC2AqZu6

— siyabonga (@sbambelo1)

'People from Soweto not taking this seriously' meanwhile in Soweto...
What r they supposed to eat after locking themselves in? Most got paid yesterday and they were at work pic.twitter.com/Q60B5AvjEh
— Bobo_Tsonganese (@etm811) March 27, 2020